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MARK MCKENZIE

Corporate Communications | Public Relations | Executive Messaging

Experience across government, media, and manufacturing, with a strong grasp of how leadership messaging lands with the public, stakeholders, and frontline teams.

  • Lead communications in elected office serving nearly 26,000 residents

  • Helped grow 89X to #1 Men 25 to 44 in Windsor-Detroit

  • Board Chair for a library system with 489,062 annual visits and 1.5M+ website views

  • Firsthand plant-floor experience at Windsor Assembly Plant

I work at the point where leadership decisions, public understanding, and stakeholder trust meet. My background spans municipal government, cross-border media, and manufacturing. That gives me a practical view of how communication works when the stakes are high, the subject matter is complex, and the audience expects clear answers.

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✔ 20+ Years in Media & Communications
✔ City Councillor, Windsor ON
✔ Automotive Manufacturing Experience
✔ Audience Strategy & Public Engagement

Results & Impact

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP

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Lead public communication for nearly 26,000 Ward 4 residents, explaining how municipal decisions affect neighbourhoods, services, infrastructure, and taxes in a city with a billion-dollar budget. Translate road projects, housing concerns, transit issues, by-law matters, public safety questions, and service changes into newsletters, resident emails, media responses, social media updates, and public meeting messaging people can actually understand.

EXECUTIVE & GOVERNANCE COMMUNICATION

Prepare briefing materials, speaking notes, public statements, presentations, correspondence, stakeholder updates, and follow-up communication for civic, board, and high-scrutiny public-sector issues. Support governance work involving budgets, reports, policy decisions, labour-sensitive matters, executive recruitment, service changes, public accountability, and confidential discussions. The role requires discretion, clear writing, sound judgment, and the ability to communicate complex decisions to multiple audiences.

AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING INSIGHT

Worked on the production of the Chrysler Pacifica launch at Windsor Assembly Plant, gaining firsthand experience with production pressure, quality expectations, frontline morale, and rapid operational change. That experience now informs my approach to employee communications, helping connect leadership messaging with the realities of the plant floor. I understand how corporate decisions, launch demands, safety expectations, staffing pressure, and operational changes are received by frontline teams.

Chair governance for Windsor Public Library, a $9.1 million public institution serving 88,000+ cardholders across nine branches. Help guide decisions affecting 489,062 annual branch visits, 1.5 million+ website views, staffing, budgets, service access, communications, and long-term planning. Drove approval of expanded Sunday service and standardized branch hours, a high-visibility change tied to public access, operational pressure, staff concerns, and community expectations.

AUDIENCE GROWTH & BRAND POSITIONING

Helped grow 89X to #1 with Men 25-44, #2 with Women 25-54, and moved Adults 25-54 audience share from 3.2 to 10.0. Built daily content, interviews, promotions, social media, station imaging, and audience-facing campaigns that strengthened listener loyalty and contributed to approximately 18% year-over-year advertising revenue growth. The work required strong audience instinct, brand discipline, fast message testing, and content that worked across broadcast, digital, social, and live event channels.

FUNDRAISING & COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS

Led Easter Seals Windsor-Essex public facing campaigns that generated approximately $1.16 million over five years for children and families with disabilities. Hosted live telethon broadcasts, wrote scripts, produced video content, coordinated interviews, and helped shape sponsor, donor, family, and community messaging. Helped rebuild annual fundraising from $105,000 to $218,000 after pandemic disruption through public-facing campaign work, sponsor communication, community outreach, and live event promotion.

Communications Leadership

Executive Communications
& Public Affairs

I support leaders, boards, and public-facing organizations when the message needs to be clear, credible, and ready for scrutiny.
 

  • Prepare briefing materials, speaking notes, public statements, presentations, correspondence, stakeholder updates, and follow-up communication for high-profile civic and governance matters.
     

  • Communicate decisions involving infrastructure, budgets, public services, policy, neighbourhood issues, and community impact.
     

  • Shape messages for senior leaders, elected officials, board members, residents, media, staff, and external partners.
     

  • Bring judgment from municipal government, board governance, media, and public-facing leadership to issues where timing and tone matter.

Strategic Communications, Media & Content

I build messages that help people understand what changed, why it matters, and what comes next.
 

  • Translate complex reports, operational updates, policy decisions, and service changes into plain-language communication.
     

  • Handle media questions, public statements, interviews, resident updates, newsletters, website content, social media, scripts, presentations, and digital messaging under tight timelines.
     

  • Align messaging across public, media, internal, digital, and stakeholder audiences so communication holds together across channels.
     

  • Use audience response, ratings, engagement trends, resident feedback, and public reaction to sharpen messaging and improve communication.

Community & Stakeholder Engagement

I work directly with people affected by decisions, not just the people making them.
 

  • Lead public engagement through ward meetings, town halls, open houses, stakeholder discussions, newsletters, media responses, and resident updates.
     

  • Communicate with residents, businesses, community organizations, city departments, boards, agencies, and public-sector partners.
     

  • Explain tradeoffs clearly when decisions involve cost, service levels, timelines, access, neighbourhood impact, or competing priorities.
     

  • Build trust by staying visible, responsive, and clear when people are frustrated or looking for answers

Employee & Industrial Communications

I bring firsthand manufacturing experience to employee communications, which is rare in corporate communications candidates.
 

  • Worked on the production launch of the Chrysler Pacifica at Windsor Assembly Plant, gaining first hand knowledge of the plant floor.
     

  • Understand how leadership messages land with frontline employees in high-pressure operational environments.
     

  • Connect executive intent with workforce realities, including morale, production pressure, change, safety expectations, and trust.
     

  • Bring practical automotive and industrial insight to internal communications, employee updates, manufacturing messaging, and public affairs.

Education

Humber College

Radio Broadcasting

Western University

Professional Certificate in Corporate Communications & Public Relations

Specs Howard School Of Media Arts

Radio & Television Broadcasting

Humber College

Real Estate Education

What Sets Me Apart

Many communications professionals come through media, agency, public sector, or corporate paths. My background cuts across several of them, with direct experience inside municipal government, cross-border media, and automotive manufacturing.

 

My background includes: 
 

• Experience at the leadership table in municipal government
• Cross-border media experience in Detroit-Windsor
• Firsthand understanding of manufacturing environments
 

That gives me a practical view of how communication works when the stakes are high, the subject matter is complex, and the audience expects clear answers.

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I write and shape messaging for public, stakeholder, media, and leadership audiences. That includes issues management, executive messaging, media relations, public-facing updates, digital content, and communication during periods of change.

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COMMUNICATIONS & MESSAGING

  • Corporate Communications

  • Public Relations

  • Public Affairs

  • Executive Messaging

  • Stakeholder Communication,

  • Media Relations

  • Issues Management

  • Public Statements

  • Briefing Materials

  • Speaking Notes

  • Newsletters

  • Presentations

  • Canadian Press / AP-style Writing

CONTENT & PRODUCTION

  • Adobe Audition

  • Adobe Premiere Pro

  • Canva

  • Audio Production

  • Video Production

  • Scriptwriting

  • Interview Preparation

  • Voiceover

  • Digital Content Creation

  • Social Media Content

  • Website Content

  • Event Communication

DIGITAL & PLATFORMS

  • Website Development and Management

  • Facebook

  • Instagram

  • X

  • TikTok

  • YouTube

  • LinkedIn

  • Newsletter Platforms

  • Content Publishing Tools

  • Scheduling Platforms

  • Website Updates

  • Digital Campaigns

  • Audience Engagement Tracking

SYSTEMS & WORKFLOW

  • Microsoft 365

  • Outlook

  • Excel

  • PowerPoint

  • Teams

  • SharePoint

  • Google Workspace

  • Zoom

  • Slack

  • CRM-Style Communication Tools

  • Content Calendars

  • Review Workflows

  • Approval Tracking

  • Stakeholder Updates

  • Deadline Management

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